The present invention relates generally to operations performed and equipment utilized in conjunction with a subterranean well and, in an embodiment described herein, more particularly provides a safety valve lock out system and method.
It is sometimes desirable to lock out a safety valve, that is, to render the safety valve inoperative by preventing it from closing. Typically, a safety valve is locked out permanently due to a malfunction. For example, a control line used to operate the safety valve may develop a leak or be severed, a flapper or other closure device of the safety valve may fail to close properly or seal adequately, etc. A safety valve may be locked out temporarily, for example, to permit unobstructed workover operations through the safety valve.
Prior methods of locking out safety valves have required complex mechanisms to open and secure the closure device. Some of these require an opening prong or flow tube of the safety valve to be displaced and locked in position.
It would, therefore, be beneficial to provide a way of locking out a safety valve which is relatively straightforward in design and execution, and which is not unnecessarily complicated, expensive or inconvenient to use.